


Let this Old Box Gather Dust

by Kat_the_Cleaver



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22938655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_the_Cleaver/pseuds/Kat_the_Cleaver
Summary: The doctor has been losing his Tardis more and more as of late. What if Donna found it? The Tardis always did seem to have a soft spot for her. Fix-it
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story on here. Any advice is more then welcomed! I see it as a chance to grow.

Chapter 1

Donna had another splitting headache the kind that burned and dulled within the eye socket. The only thing that seemed to help was the cold. She left the berating of her mother going on about how she is never in church anymore and she was embarrassing her for it. Donna wanted to argue that she had just called her mother from church awhile back but the sentence didn’t feel right. She felt as if she was lying when she wasn’t. It didn’t matter her head was on fire and she needed relieve.

Sylvia ranted till she noticed her target was nowhere present, “And where do you think you are going Missy” “Well clearly to church since I am such a sinner” Donna replied letting the door close as an end to the discussion. Wilfred saw Donna gripping her head on the doorstep trying to collect herself.

“You alright sweetheart?”

“I’m fine gramps just going to take a little walk, maybe a run.” Donna paused she had never voluntarily wanted to run in her life. The shock of the sentence seemed to increase her headache. She didn’t want to grip it in front of Gramps so she took off before he got another word in.

Donna tried to take in the beauty of the park but nothing felt as majestic as it use to. She felt both to small and too large for the world she was trapped in. She looked at the ducks going on and on about nothing just quacking to themselves. It reminded her of someone. Talking but saying nothing. She felt a pang of sadness like a friend never made.

That is the first time she felt it. A wisp of love. A tickle of familiarity in her cheek. She felt a connection to something lost.

Somehow, she knew it was blue.

Donna followed the air to the strength of that feeling, she knew it was close. She only stopped a moment to realize she was deep in the woods and that the sun was beginning to wane. She felt maybe she should go back but then that love urged her on again. She hadn’t felt this way in so long and the headache was nearly gone.

For truly gone not that dull ache that was always there that she was able to manage through but fully absent. She felt herself for the first time in a year.

When it came into sight she was both shocked and not to find a blue police box there. She knew Gramps had talked about them before and she had seen them on the telly. It didn’t make sense for it to be back in the forest. It seemed long forgotten with ivy and moss encroaching on it.

It wasn’t right. It was beautiful and deserved more care then this. With this thought she felt another rush of cool honey languish on her forehead. The relieve was euphoric and she felt the least she could do was return the favor. She touched the police box and ran her hand down it with a caress.

“What has happened to you, old girl?” Donna spoke to no one. It seemed to hum under her because it couldn’t really hum right? It was just a box. Somehow this was an insult and she felt it.

The weird sting made Donna question what exactly she was doing. She was in the woods alone with a box in twilight.

“I need to get a grip.” Donna shook her head. At the thought of leaving she felt the need to reassure the box.

“Hey don’t worry girl. I need proper gardening tools to take care of this mess. I can’t do it tonight but I promise I will be back.” 

Donna left that night with something she hadn’t had in a long time. A purpose.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get our hands dirty

Donna woke up with a headache not as bad as usual but one nonetheless. It was interesting as she had not woken up in pile of sweat either. She may have had a real night’s sleep. Her mood soured as soon as she went downstairs. Sylvia was right away on her for sleeping in.

“Oh look your highness! Thank you for greeting us with your presence. Don’t you have a job to be looking for?”

“Don’t you have someone else to torment?” Donna snidely said under her breath.

“I heard that lady. And I have every right this is my roof you are living under and…” Sylvia stopped herself. Something she had been doing a lot since Donna had lost all that time. “And to be honest I think you are so capable and I just want you to show others that” Sylvia sounded almost defeated.

Donna felt blindsided by this. She wanted to keep yelling but she felt the honesty in her mother’s words.

“I know mum and I will please just give me some more time. The market isn’t what it used to and I just want to find something that isn’t just getting someone their coffee. Is there anything I can get you while I am in town today?”

“No I am fine. But do pick up some of those gluten free crackers for your grandfather. He says he hates them but I have seen that man go through a whole box without a thought.”

“Ok” Donna was surprised by the lack of follow up her mother had.

The garden center had everything she needed. She even bought beautiful flowers to plant around it. They were brilliant and tiny yet filled with such importance. She grabbed a bunch of them. As she was checking out the cashier commented on them asking if she knew what they were.

“Fraid not it just looked like they needed a home.”

“I am just a sucker for forget-me-knots we leave them on my father’s grave every year.” The cashier stated with a sigh.

“Oh is that what these lovely little ones are called? Any advice for someone thick like me on how to keep them alive.”

“Just treasure them they seem to know how to take care of themselves.” The clerk added with a wink.

If Donna didn’t know any better she would have thought there was a weird inside joke going on but kept moving.

She had thought of buying paint but nothing seemed to match the color needed for the police box. It seemed to be a blue outside of time.

Donna worried about being able to find it again. She didn’t know what to call it. There was a name on the tip of her tongue. A T, Tarry maybe.

God putting all this thought into an inanimate object. She was going crazy. Maybe she was like that insane woman who married the Eiffel tower. A voice almost autonomous

“ **Objectophilia is a form of sexual or romantic attraction focused on particular inanimate objects”**

Another flare of pain she shut out that train of thought. She scared herself if she kept going down this path she feared she wouldn’t be able to handle it. Donna slide down the deep incline almost losing balance with all the material she was carrying. She ran straight into Tarry, still not the proper name but the closet she felt she would ever come. With a single touch a rainfall of cold fell through her. The flare up and the dull ache gone. She swore she saw a fire leave her as it happened.

“Well hello there gorgeous ready for your makeover?” Donna swore there was an audible hum to this reply but for sanity’s sake continued.

“I couldn’t find your color for a paint job but your coat will hopefully look good after I trim and wash you.”

As Donna performed her task her head danced with images of circles. They seem to be trying to tell her something but she just enjoyed their grace across her mind. The flowers looked beautiful at the feet of this police box. They seem to grip the box with hope of keeping it there. Donna knew better she knew soon the only mark of its stay would be the square of forget-me-knots tracing its outline. A fairy ring of hope and comfort to those who would come to sit in it.

Donna suddenly stilled and had a vision of a girl with brown curls crying within this square having been bullied. Donna wanted to reach out and hold the girl but that was not how this was meant to go. The girl continued to cry till the flowers bowing at her feet caught her eye. The girl in wonderment picked one. The girl spoke to the flower unknown words her eyes smiling. She tucked the flower behind her ear stood up determined and walked home. A stride of that taking on the world where there was once insecurity.

Donna coming too realized it was dark.

“How long was I out? Mum is going to kill me”

Donna felt lighter, felt hopeful. Sylvia lost her mind when Donna came through the door covered in dirt.

“Where in the hell have you been? Get swallowed up by the earth by the looks of it. I have been worried sick. Gramps is off with his neighborhood watch gang looking for you. You shouldn’t do that to the poor old man. Now out with it where were you?”

Donna paused and found herself at a loss “I was gardening you told me to try and get a job. Well I am trying my hand at that.”

Sylvia snorted “You gardening? You hate the dirt. Won’t find any good men in the field anyway. Unless you are going for one with just muscles. Well get washed up. I will call your Grandfather to stop the search. Just lucky I didn’t get the police involved yet.” 

Donna was to tired to reply it felt as if she had lost so much energy today and was scared what she had really done during that blackout. She barely made it out of the shower before she dreamed of a frozen plant far off with a beautiful song filling her head.

It felt as soulful as slave songs, filled with hope of freedom from being repressed.


	3. Chapter 3

Donna began to make a habit of visiting Tarry. *Still hate that name* After Donna woke up late again this time to her mother banging on her door. 

“You alive in there. Thought gardeners did all their work in the morning. You know to avoid the noon sun. Well I guess if they sleep as late as you they can avoid it as well”   
Donna looked at her clock. The blaring 13:24 starring back at her. Donna wasn’t an early bird by any means but she never slept past 9 am. Another thing was she woke up light. As if she had been doing a detox. She had never felt this good in her life. Maybe she needed the extra sleep. The Doctor had told her with headaches sometimes a long sleep could help. 

“The Doctor, the doctor, the doctor, the doctor, the doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor doctor,doctor,doctordoctordocotordocotor” Donna began to seize repeating this word. Her mind screaming of fire and flood. Sylvia began to panic as she heard Donna repeating this phrase over and over. 

“Dad! Dad call the police. Something is wrong with Donna.” Sylvia went to get the spare key to open the door. 

Wilfred jumped further then he had since the war he grabbed the phone as he went up the stairs. On the phone he tried to catch his breath “Yes…Police…Please send ambulance to…” Gramps gave the address. His shorten breath confusing the operator into thinking he was the one in need.   
“No, it is my granddaughter she is on the floor shaking repeating one word.” Gramps paused for a second. Should they be doing this? What if it had to do with what the Doctor had done to Donna. Could human medicine kill her? Why hadn’t the Doctor mentioned any of this. Gramps had made up his mind the Doctor wasn’t here to save her and he has to use what he can. 

Gramps felt the heat off Donna from the door. He grabbed a cool cloth and brought it to her head. Donna wasn’t in her head he could tell. She was with a man so beyond words on another world.   
The ambulance arrived and her temperature was 41 degrees Celsius

“We need to cool her down immediately. Call ahead let them know she has high temp and confusion. How long has she been like this?” The man turning to Sylvia 

“I don’t know she slept in I just came to wake her up. We were just talking last night, I mean more fighting. Well she has always had a temper.”

“Please focus. You don’t know how long she has been like this. At this temperature we can have organ damage. We are taking her to hospital right away. Any other medical history we should be concerned about?”

“Organ damage?! She will be alright, won’t she? You better make her alright be after the lot of you.”

“Come now Darlin get out of their way. They are just trying to help. Please take care of my granddaughter. We will be following in the car.”  
The man nodded as he loaded up Donna who continued to whisper only for that of the doctor. 

“This is all that bloody man’s fault. He is the one who did this to Donna. THEN not even have the care to leave a number if god forbid she has an issue that he brought on.”  
Wilf had let her carry on like this for a while but had had enough “That man gave her more than we ever could. She loved him even you could see that. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

“Well she was a fool and he took it all away from her anyway. All he did was leave a trail of pain and no explanation. Lot of good that was should have just left her here.”  
Wilfred had given up to concerned about his granddaughter to give into Sylvia’s fear disguised as hatred.   
Wilfred and Sylvia waited and if there was anything worse than an animal scared and concerned it was one that couldn’t see its child in the same situation. Sylvia tore into the poor orderlies who were just following orders. 

Finally, a doctor exited that morning “Are you Donna Noble’s family?”

“Yes, yes we are and we have been waiting here for so long. You think it is professional to keep us in the dark for this long. It is a downright crime and I will make sure to include this in my report to the NHS and another thing…”

“Sylvia let the man speak! What about our Donna is she ok?”

“She is no longer stuck on one word but she is talking about things. Well frankly…is your daughter a professor of physics?”

“My daughter no she can’t even change a plug. Why have you lost her? Did the charts get mixed up? Where is she?”

“It is just she is speaking of theories I had to research in and still fully didn’t understand. They are…it is not nonsense it is just nothing someone with your daughter’s background would know. We are still running test. We can’t pinpoint the illness and her fever is barely staying where it is even with all of our resources. We are doing all we can but if we cannot get her fever under control we are worried that she will face complications. You can come see her if you like”

Sylvia fell back down. No, she didn’t want to throw fuel on the fire she didn’t want to do anything but whatever it took to make her daughter well.   
“Dad you have to find him. You have to save her. She is the best of us. She saved the universe. You heard the Doctor how he spoke about what she did.”

“I don’t know where he is love but I will find him if I can. I will go see her first you take a moment then I will find him. Our Donna is a fighter she won’t let go.”  
Donna laid in the bed surrounded by cooling equipment. Her fiery hair dampened and plastered to her face. She was talking about bootstrap paradoxes. Wilfred knew a bit about them.   
He tried to connect with her gently holding her hand. Donna turned to him in a moment of clarity.

“The tardis is here, the park in the wood, follow the forget-me-knots. I have to get there now. I need you to grab my key from my music box and bring it there.”  
Donna jumped out of bed visible translucent light. Her eyes aflame. 

“GO” Gramps shuddered only having seen the intensity of a timelord once before. A storm held within a frame so fragile.   
Wilfred ran to the house. Well ran is a flexible word when you get to Wilfred’s age. 

“Key. Key oh sweetheart I wish you had been a bit more specific about where this music box is.”   
Wilfred hustled around her room searching for some evidence of a music box. 

He sat in a pile of her knic-knacks. Old snow globes he had traveled and brought back to here. Anything to give her a sense of wonderment. For a glint Donna would be herself entertaining the idea of where gramps had been. Even though he went no southern then France it still meant the world when Donna couldn’t handle the world on her bad days. 

Sylvia entered the house with a new furry. 

"THEY LOST HER! A bloody hospital lost a patient with a fever hot enough to fry an egg."

Wilfred played back and forth on weather to tell Sylvia or not. In the end he thought Donna deserved a little bit of trust and would let her secret be kept. 

"Love I am so sorry to hear that. But I need your help I am looking for a music box. Donna said she wanted it and if I can do that maybe it will help"

"A music Box! Have you not been hearing me?!?!?! My Daughter is missing no one knows where she is."

"Focus Darling I need it. It will help. I am unsure how but Donna said it would"

Sylvia stopped and fell against a wall. 


	4. A light

  
“I sold it”

“Oh no Love please tell me you didn’t”

“I sold it Dad. I would see her staring at it. Just lost in trance. It scared me she would never open it. My Donna was just so entrapped by it I had to get rid of it. Tell me there is another way. Please Dad.”

“Oh Sylvia I don’t know. We will figure this out though. Where did you sell it?”

“I don’t…I don’t know. Some little shoppe they gave me 20 pounds for it. I think it was Wolf Mal? I don’t know Wolf something.”   
Sylvia began to cry unable to handle all that had occurred. 

“You stay here and try and remember that shop darlin. I am going to look for our Donna.”  
Wilfred left, night seeming to calm him. The stars always did that for him. He went to the park he was sure Donna spoke of. As soon as he entered the woods he felt it. That mystic turn of wind. You could smell the travel. 

Wilfred was unsure what was in the woods but he knew he would find them. 

A man his age and hills were not a good combination. He tumbled a little on his way down. He looked up to the northern lights. It was wrong. Time. Year. Color. 

They were fire read with deep purple longing into the branches. Like fairies upon the vine it trickled through glimpses of leaves. 

He stood in awe of it. He realized they were too close and he reached to grasp them. As he passed through the color he saw the world. 

A man in love in the hills of drought. Supporting his love to the well for a drink of comfort from the dew of this land. Wilfred felt it all, the support of hope. He closed his eyes and opened to the same man weeping upon a lost. Providing the water, she so desperately needed. Too late. The grief, the guilt of relieve of only himself to provide. The shock of selfishness glaring back at Wilfred. 

Wilfred adverted in shame. Knowing that lost brings sorrow and release. That though he would do anything to keep his own love in time both men knew this would be easier on the family now. Wilfred began to tear up. Thousand of years of time but the guilt of old age love hangs throughout. 

Wilfred tried to clear his head. He had to focus there was still someone to save. He never claimed to be a saint no matter what others saw. 

“I was never better than another! I know the sins I carry. I am sorry.” He fell to he’s knees trying to stay within this moment. He wanted to wallow in the sorrow to fully grasp what he was. 

He looked to the ground. Forget-me-knots brushing against him. They flounder to an old man that has lived through so much. Letting him know his strength. They show the way to a deep blue box that stands against the night.

Wilfred keeping his gaze on the present. The source of light is discovered it is Donna. 

A mastic of color and heat increasing as he approaches. The fire of her hair dwindles to the color of the air. She glowed but somehow it was not bright. She floated but was weighted within the air. Held in place by the blue of the Tardis, by the purple of the flowers wrapped around her ankles. 

Wilfred hand in front of his face in the heat of the universe. He tenderly reached out and grabbed his granddaughter. 

He heard the hum of courage. He had no idea what would happen but Wilfred was always a man willing to try, to hope. 

She fell. The weight of physics and laws crashing upon her body. She was no longer greater than the world. She was actually quite small. A flame within the whale of the entirety. 

Wilfred couldn't hold Donna. He collapsed with her outside of the Tardis. 

"Darlin. Sweetheart. You have to answer me. Please my beautiful girl. This isn't how this goes you are supposed to be crying at my bedside eh?"

Donna's flushed cheeks were the only sense of life in her. The flowers slowly engrossing her. 

Wilfred's instinct was to abided them back but a trance of music paused his hand. Wilfred looked at the Tardis and then the sky. Though the red still raged the purple had descended into blue and grew. 

"Your helping her aren't you? Am I just to leave her out here? It isn't safe."

The Tardis reached and touched his mind showing a forest fire struggling under that of a sprinkler. A candle among the grass of dew. 

"You need something. What do you need? Please anything. Where is the Doctor?"

Another flush of images: locks of all of time and space. Key holes, eyes closed and reopened. Pinstripes flashing through holes, brown tufts of hair disappearing through a clock. A beeping a blare of red. 

Wilfred jolted back. His spine screaming for relieve from the position he is in. It was midday. The world around him changed. Was he really here or in another land again. He felt the heat of Donna and knew he was back. 

"If you take care of my Donna for now I will get you that key. Please she deserves so much."

The Tardis nodded within his mind as if there was any other choice she would make.

Wilfred left to a violin tune echoing within him, an anxiously soothing pattern played to a patient. The shaken notes trying to convey a sense of calm. They needed to hurry the Tardis could only absorb so much. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really try to be nice to Sylvia but I just know so many like her.

Donna was neither living nor dead. Much like the Tardis she simply was. Silent but not unaware of where she was. Donna didn’t exist her consciousness of a stream. She understood now why the Tardis only spoke with music and images. It was impossible to form a sentence with all of the information flowing through her. She simply smiled and hummed and pictured the future filled with Forget-me-nots and a wonderful man who needed her. 

Wilfred tried to stretch his back out as he let Donna further sink into the flowers. She began to hum the Hungarian Dance No. 5. He knew that must be the tune the music boxed played when opened. Wilfred looked up still noting the raging colors throughout. He worried about someone noticing and taking Donna away. The Tardis comforted him with the picture of a historic shield and a cloak. Wilfred understood he only saw it as the Tardis had allowed it. 

“I am coming back Darlin.” With a kiss he went to tackle the hill that had beaten him only the night before. 

Returning home Sylvia was gratefully up and moving. She was on the phone and eyes widen when seeing him.

“I have got to go Marge. Yes, yes we are fine let me know if you see that music box.”  
Sylvia hung up the phone. 

“Did you find her? I am assuming you were gone for God knows how long.”

“Yes, and she is fighting just like I told you she would. Our Donna isn’t going down without kicking up a fuss. Did you find the music box?”  
Sylvia pulled the music box from the cupboard and gave it to him. 

“I don’t know what this is but after this I don’t want to see it again. It gives me the hives just looking at it. I had to put it away just to keep my head straight.”  
Wilfred felt the weight as if landed in his hands. 

“Alright my girl now this is going to be the hard part. I am not sure what is going to happen next but I know it will probably take a while. I need you not to worry if you don’t hear from me.”

“So, I am supposed to wait her like a forgotten pet while you put my daughter’s life in danger.”

“I don’t have a choice Love. It is the only way to save Donna.”

Sylvia took a moment to ponder. She was her mother should she not be there. Shouldn’t Sylvia be the one taking this on not her poor father who has done so much already. Sylvia looked at herself in the glass of the window. Coward. The only thing that came to mind. 

She couldn’t do it. She could not throw herself to the whims of the world like Donna could or like her father. Stuck in her ways she sat down. Accepting her reality. 

“Go. But please don’t be foolish”

Wilfred hugged her closely understanding the debate that ate within her. He knew this was not of her world. Leave it to figure and facts and no’s and yes, she was there. 

Wilfred went back to the forest. He could see the colors from the house now. The fire of it the only color bursting through.

“It’s getting worst” and he double timed his hobble to the woods. 

He found Donna the picture of snow white among the flowers. It was a field of them. He brought her the key from the music box but she didn’t stir. 

“You asked for it coming on Donna time to wake up.” She didn’t move. Wilfred looked to the Tardis and put the key into the lock. Opening that door was like turning five all over again. The ceiling the beautiful architect. No matter that he had seen it before it still stuck to him. 

Wilfred tried his best to gently pull Donna through. 

“Ok you lets go see the Doctor”

Nothing. 

“Well this is a bit disappointing. What do I do now” 

The Tardis was literally burnt out trying to keep Donna from setting the world and herself ablaze. There was still light. 

“Donna please I don’t know what to do. You are so wonderful you would know how to fix this.”  
Wilfred began to well up. He felt as if he was a kid trying to repair a car. He had no idea what to do. He began to wind up the music box maybe that would help. Donna and the Doctor would just sit here and pout. The music began to play. 

Donna rose up.

“Love this song never been to Hungry but I can taste the Langos now. Can you imagine a food never tried, never been, but can taste the sour cream now? Sour cream is made by letting cream that was skimmed off the top of milk ferment at a moderate temperature. It can also be prepared by the souring of pasteurized cream with acid-producing bacterial culture. Us humans so weird sticking different bacteria on everything allowing it to do all the hard work. Why Wilfred Mott how can you just be sitting here like this? We need to go find that silly old spaceman. Oh, he is in a world of hurt when I find him.”  
She began to run around the Tardis with the chaotic energy usually found in her companion. 

“Now Gramps I don’t need you to worry but I can only stay conscious like this for a little bit. Well your idea of conscious I will be a stream leading to a river placed on a different end of where I am. Make sense?” Wilfred just gasped at her not sure where to start. 

“No gotcha. You have done wonderfully so far Gramps never had a doubt. You just need to find our skinny Minnie wherever we are going. The Tardis is locking onto him now. I swear he loses this poor girl more and more. Should just take her with me for a bit. A bit of girl time.” Donna turned toward Wilfred smiled, grimaced and gave him a big hug. 

“Good Luck gramps” with that she passed out on the chair behind her.   
Wilfred had wished he had time to have collected himself. All the sudden the Tardis wailed back and forth, then landed. Wilfred was to old for this but had never felt younger. 

“For you Donna.” He opened the door.


	6. Chapter 6

He walked out into a large field of Forget-me-knots. Instead of them being the usual purple or blue they had a large ring of red around the petals. 

Donna, Wilfred thought she must have had lasting effects on the area from whatever the Tardis had been trying to do. 

Wilfred took one last look at Donna resting in the chair. She held so limp and yet looked so tense. He could feel her fighting the fire within. He locked the door of the Tardis and slid his hand down the wood. He felt what was like a weak pulse throb through his brain. 

Whatever this amazing ship had done to save Donna had now entwined them with each other. Their fates one. 

Wilfred was unaware of when he was all he knew was that his old nemesis was here. That damn hill again. His own personal Everest. 

“Up and over boys” he mumbled to himself as he began walking up to meet the sun. 

Wilfred began to wonder if the area had been converted to some sort of wilderness sanctuary. There was no trace of humanity besides a dirt road. There was no lamps or concrete. He continued to walk along till over the hill he was what looked like a village. 

As he walked closer he heard great noise and celebration coming from what appeared to be a garden of some sort. If he remembered right Chiswick use to have a huge garden still have a meet up for the horticultural type. That was always more of his wife’s style. 

She always had herself steady to the ground as he let himself float in the clouds. He use to call her his little garden worm. He missed seeing her roll her eyes to that. But she always had a smirk on. Wilfred stopped for a second a pane of loss eating at him. He really missed her. 

He continued to think of her as he trotted into town. The uneven earth doing nothing for his knees and back. When did he get so old? It didn’t matter he had to find the Doctor even this far away he could feel that weak pulse slipping. 

As he approached the town he began to see that if was a real Foppish event the higher class no doubt. Guess he had the wrong end of the stick and he was actually in the past. He wondered how the flowers had grown so quickly then. 

He approached a man who seemed to be having quite the time. 

“Excuse me Sir have you met anyone by the name of the Doctor”

“What are you in need of a good doctor for? You seem to be as mobile as us and should need nothing but a mead to help you through. Please take a drink Mr??”

“Wilfred Mott. But no, I am looking for a man who calls himself THE Doctor”

“Oh That Dr. Smith? Yes he was talking to Sir T.Knight last I heard. I have no idea where they went you know how these Fere’s can be. My guess would be the green house. Knight is always up to something in there.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Wilfred mad his way to the greenhouse no idea what to expect. 

He walked into an area of chaos soil spilt and mud tracks left everywhere. There were noticeable traces of a long vine pulled through the ground and a larger whole.

“Well I guess it was never going to be a trip through the roses was it?” Wilfred began to crawl through the hole. He almost wished it was the future so that he could get some robot knee. 

Wilfred slipped as though he was Alice through the rabbit hole floating through. The way this day was going I was expecting to find the mad hatter at the end of the fall Wilfred thought. Instead he was greeted by the Doctor hanging upside down eyes big as the moon. Next to him was a balding man he also seemed to have no idea what was going on. 

Wilfred remove the vine from the Doctor’s mouth. 

“Oh Well hello there Wilfred I do believe you are in the wrong place, but more then ever at the right time.” The Doctor quipped as he finished getting out of the vines. 

A humming began to vibrate around him. If Wilfred didn’t know better it sounded like Morse code. 

“Well it might be the wrong time as well.” The Doctor looked up to the shaking tunnel. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas Knight is a real Scientist from this time he performed many experiments like Mendall though he never made the leap to genetics and could not fully understand it.

The Doctor goes back into stride as if there was nothing strange about seeing Wilfred Mott in the 19th century. The Doctor quickly brings down Thomas Knight and lets him gather a sense of panic and speak it.   
“Thank god you have come good Sir. The plants, the plants are disrupting. I knew they held such life but was unaware that they could change the gravity of what we thought of them.” Thomas Knight continues to

go on as Wilfred just nods and tries to better understand. 

The Doctor tried of the rambling “Shhh, this isn’t helping Thomas we need to get to the middle of this. I have no idea what has caused such sentience of these plants. No alien DNA but they are giving off Huon particles. It makes no sense.” The Doctor continued to mumble feeling loss at having no tech to play off of or clear motive. 

“Doctor we had no such trouble till you arrived. The plants would only seem to bring good luck. They lifted our spirits and seemed to whisper to me clear insights into cultivation even something called jean-et-ics. My peapods seem to indicate that of human traits passed on” 

“I know Thomas why is it so aggressive now. Why is it trying to trap me? What is it wanting to communicate? I can’t make sense of these thumping’s.”  
“

They sound like Morse code to me. I didn’t take to much heart to it despite the war.” Wilfred thought aloud. “Morse code…Morse Code of course I am so thick not having the TARDIS so close threw me off. So

simple.”   
The Message seem to repeat over and over. The Doctor trying to hush up Thomas Knight so he could figure it out.  
“... .--. .- -.-. . -- .- -. --..-- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. .. --. ..- .-. . / .. - / --- ..- - / -.-- . - ..--.. .- -.-. .   
... .--. .- -.-. . -- .- -. --..-- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. .. --. ..- .-. . / .. - / --- ..- - / -.-- . - ..--.. .- -.-. .  
... .--. .- -.-. . -- .- -. --..-- / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. .. --. ..- .-. . / .. - / --- ..- - / -.-- . - ..--.. .- -.-. . “

“Where is the TARDIS translate when you need it? I am so rusty on my Morse Code. Thick age I am at now. To young for ignorance to old for ignorance should know better.”

The vines began to reach out again in the shape of buddy hand fruit grasping for touch. 

“Time to go.” The doctor said running off through the tunnel Wilfred had just come through. 

As they emerged the night sky greeted them. From where they stood Wilfred and the Doctor could see the lights again of Red and orange the hint of Blue totally gone. A wildfire of rage and loss screaming to be heard silent only to those without sight. 

The Doctor swiveled to Wilfred “Now on to bigger things. How did you get here Wilfred and what is that?”  
Wilfred explained all that had occurred at the mention of Donna the Doctor paled. Before even reaching to the end the Doctor but couldn’t help interrupt.

“Is she ok? Donna is she alright?”

“I don’t know Doctor. She needs your help the TARDIS just keeps showing a weaken pulse. I don’t know what to do. You have to help them.”  
Thomas Knight keeps moving aside not knowing how to fully understand what he saw. 

“I just don’t understand why are the voices of the Faye are angered with us.”

“Thomas how long have these Faye been speaking with you.” 

“Well it always was and wasn’t I can’t remember when they appeared but I can’t remember them also not being here. It is hard to phrase. It seemed they appeared yesterday but I know them from my childhood. The forget-me-nots of the Faye. That is why they are nicknamed that. It is hard to forget but it is hard to remember.” 

“Something has planted itself throughout time. They are not meant to be here. They are the wrong color and seem to always be larger and growing and staying the same size. Thomas stay here I have larger matters to attend to with the Faye.” The Doctor continues to ponder but can’t grasp the last piece. 

“We are going to help my Donna, right Doctor.” Wilfred wanted to confirm. 

“Of course, Donna and the Tardis my two girls always come first. Plus, if anyone could upset time at this scale I am sure it would be the Tardis, she can be fussy if I don’t pay enough attention to the girl. Not to mention I might have misplaced her.” The Doctor paused but Wilfred knew it was more for a pause then to let him speak. 

“To be fair wasn’t my fault. I stepped out and something called her somewhere else. Should really do something to stop that from happening.”  
The Doctor came upon the hill walking through the for-get-me-nots. “This can’t be right they are giving off a psychic energy. Much like the time vortex.”   
The Doctor opened the door and looked at the water flow of fire hang over the chair. His hearts stop for a second. He forgot how graceful she was when she was unaware. She let her true vulnerability stay there was no self-conscious.”

“Donna” He rushed over to her and held her. Brushing her hair. There was a brush but it was strange it wasn’t just the Tardis it had the feeling of Oi being yelled at him. The Tardis was trying to absorb the energy of Donna. It wasn’t safe the Tardis could not hold all that power and Donna could not be fully separated from it. The Tardis in itself just wanted to help even at her own expense. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Morse code for those interested was "SPACEMAN, YOU FIGURE IT OUT YET?" The more I write Wilf the more I love him. Sorry for the delay.

The Doctor had to focus they were connected. They had to be the flowers, Donna, the Tardis, and the Huon particles. It was too much of a weird coincidence to be otherwise.  
“Think, think no one remembers but no one has forgotten. Donna Noble how on earth are you doing this. I know the Tardis is allowing the Dam to trickle out but there is no way she can sustain it.”  
“Why not” Mott interrupted the rapid fire of end games the Doctor kept coming to.  
“Why can’t the Tardis just let the energy slip out? It seems like it is working. Donna isn’t on fire. I know she is asleep but its like that medical coma they put patients in while the inside does the work. And then she can remember wouldn’t that be wonderful Doctor she could remember and travel with you again.”  
“Wilf there is so much more to it then you think. That kind of energy that power can’t just dissipate and it is taking and tearing away at the TARDIS as it goes through. Wearing away at the structure till it breaks. I have to stop this. I need to rebuild the wall.”  
Wilf had only done this once before to a man much smaller than the Doctor, but at the time seemed to be a giant of authority.  
“No.” Wilf said as he stood. He steady as he looked at the Timelord not with anger but with a stern sensibility. The Doctor didn’t speak as if waiting for Wilf to further this statement. The Doctor’s eyebrows arching into a question.  
“We have done this song and dance before. I don’t like to disagree but you are wrong here Doctor. You needed her before and you still do and she needs you. It is just right. I won’t let you rush in like last time. I know the TARDIS is in danger but she is giving you what you didn’t have before, time. I think you need to have a sit about this. I will go make us a spot of tea.” Wilf left before the Doctor could say anything else.  
The Doctor looked torn he thought faster than Wilf had all the solutions pointing to one direction but for Wilf he would slow down. The old man seemed to have that power over others. It is where Donna got the ability to make the Doctor feel cool and calm. She knew how to stop a moment just like her grandfather. He looked back to her. Her muscles strained with relaxation of being left on a seat. He picked her up. The bridal carry she had never had. He took her to the Med bay and laid her down. He was surprised how cool she felt but worried about the dewy clamminess she was producing.  
“Donna always a troublemaker, aren’t you?” He felt something he hadn’t felt since he lost his people. A wisp across his brain. It was different from the TARDIS. It felt more human. That organic electricity of life crossing him.  
“Donna can you hear me? Can you communicate to me?” Another teardrop of familiarity.  
“I don’t know what to do. I never claim to have all the answers but I don’t know what to do.”  
He felt a stronger force. “Alright I know what to do but I can’t to you. Not again. It nearly broke me. I went into a timelord victorious after that.” He thought back to how hard he had tried to save those on Mars. Tugging at his hair “Argggh. Why can’t it be simple? If I let you continue this way the time energy you are leaving will affect this area forever. It could change human history. It already is, has, will. The Tardis can’t hold it and if I put the wall up again it may fall.”  
Suddenly a rubics cube appeared in his mind but of tangled roots. Donna was trying to communicate to him. Apples, blueberries, oranges, they all shook from the tree. Leaving only a fig. The Doctor didn’t understand.  
“Why a fig?”


	9. Chapter 9

“Why a fig” The Doctor mused loudly

Wilf chose this time to enter with a drink. “Ah the fruit you grow for another generation.”

It hit the Doctor. A plant like that takes so much time and energy to grow he needed a place like that to place the energy. He needed a fig field. Where to put it though. It would still hold a power. It would still be used incorrectly if left to the devices of humans. 

A song of slavery hit him. The Ood. “Oh, Donna you are brilliant, human mind and all.” A wave of sass hit him. 

“Doctor what are you talking about? Have you figured it out?” 

“The Ood. They have a collection of thought their psychic energy along with the TARDIS may allow for the energy to transfer at a control rate to a plant that takes years to grow like a fig tree.”

The Doctor yelled as he sprinted to the control room. “Alright girl I need you. Just a little further and we may be able to get this under control.” The TARDIS hummed under him cutting its connection from Donna for a moment to focus on the need of travel. 

They tried to make it as quick as possible. The TARDIS and Doctor felt the scream of fire and terror tearing through Donna. She burned. A roaring silent heat pulsed through her as she struggled to regulate. As soon as they landed the Doctor ran and carried her out. Wilf tried to keep up but the doctor was spurned on by the pain he felt. He had never wanted her to feel this way. He was helpless to help the first time but he will change it now. He has to. He knows the wall will never last. 

The snow helped to cool her. The snow rapidly melting around her. The Ood were already prepared. They had a field cleared, a plot, a greenhouse built and soil prepared.

“You really are just Ood-believable.” The Doctor jest trying to reign the flood of feelings he had been thrashed upon. 

“Doctor Donna welcome, the song foretold of this. Please bring her to the sanctuary. We have prepared the best we could.”

A bed of seeds spread throughout the field. Spread within circles and shapes that the doctor realized were that of Gallifrey. The Doctor let this go for the moment more focused on Donna. 

“Alright for this to work I need to be the main connection. This may hurt but I won’t let you die Donna would never want to risk a life for hers. Wilf this may take days I won’t be able to talk but the Ood will be here.” 

The Doctor set himself in front of Donna placing his hands upon her temple. The Ood took shifts of groups of 8-10 helping the Doctor and Tardis release the flow of energy. The Ood could only handle two hours at most. The energy was so strong. The psychic energy flowed throughout their generations. The Doctor now understood how they had received their site. It was Timelord energy that had allowed them to see the future. It was a ripple that effected their ancestors. 

The Doctor tired to respect Donna’s privacy but found himself having to travel through her in order to get the energy out. He felt her sorrow, rejection, but rarely anger. The Doctor needed to find Donna though she had been buried within heat. He needed to lead her out.


	10. Chapter 10

Wilf had always wanted to explore and be thrown into a culture but this was a bit much. The Ood were so damn polite. They wouldn’t dare to do anything that would be considered rude to their guest. Don’t get him wrong he was incredible grateful to them for all their help and hospitality. 

Wilf missed the banter the playful nudges he would have with the Doctor or Donna. The Ood were nice enough they brought tea and listen patiently to his stories, even if he was sure they had already been told. He tried to reach them about their culture but it seems whatever the Doctor and Donna did the last time they were here made it difficult for the Ood to explain their history. 

Wilf had found some common ground with the stars. It was a whole new universe to observe and he took it all in. The Ood had a special way of observing they were able to see colors and describe movements with a poetry that hadn’t graced humans. 

They felt the stars shift and the effect on their own gravity. They new when a turn would occur. They had escalated math beyond verbiage. It was like Wilf describing politics to a one year old or the Doctor trying to explain most anything to Wilf. Wilf still enjoyed listening though it was the closest he got to a real conversation most of the time. The Ood didn’t have names and Wilf didn’t mean to generalize they would be discussing and another would show up the one sitting would stand without pause, the other would sit and continue the conversation. 

The first couple of times of this occurring Wilf felt confused on how to address it. So he didn’t. Wilf felt so out of place. In a culture where they can all feel each other. Being an individual felt the coldest even Donna and the Doctor were currently in the circle and here was Wilf just observing. He felt as if he was back in the war. Most were willing to just follow orders without question. It was what the boot camps had been about. Build you down to build you back up. He came in near the end of the war and felt so out of place. He thanks God he was sent in later. Even with his resolve he fears he would have become forced into it. A broken man, part of a cog. Wilf knew he was just a man after all. Wilf shook his head staring back out to the field where the Doctor and Donna had planted themselves, excuse the pun. He saw the soil turn to life. A regenerative glow feeding the trees allowing them to grow quicker than they ever should have. 

He knew that Donna would be ok now she was with the Doctor. They needed each other though they would never admit it. Wilf returned to the Tardis as it had been able to find the perfect mattress setting for him. They were right a good mattress could take off years from your aches. He hadn’t woken up so refreshed since his 30’s. 

The Tardis welcomed him home. The most personal connection he had made the past week. The Tardis seemed to pick up on his worry and hummed a buzz of encouragement.  
“I know girl, I know they will be fine. I just wish I knew what they were going through”


End file.
